Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday - Softcover

O'Meally, Robert G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1559702001 ISBN 13: 9781559702003

Publisher: Arcade Pub, 1993

Synopsis

A biography of the "First Lady" of modern jazz, based on newly released archival information, stresses her contributions to jazz singing instead of dwelling on her personal difficulties

About this title

About the Author:

Robert O'Meally, Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and American Studies at Columbia University, is the author of The Craft of Ralph Ellison and the editor of The Jazz Cadence of American Culture. He is co-producer of the 5-CD Smithsonian set The Jazz Singers, nominated for a Grammy award. His articles on American music and literature appear in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and theAtlantic Monthly.

From Library Journal:

Narcotics, jail, sexual abuse, and prejudice are often our first associations concerning the life of the great jazz singer, but this biography recalls only Holiday as artist. O'Meally (English, Barnard Coll.) puts her tragedy and talent into perspective, and what emerges is a critique of a singer. The book's first section is outstanding in this regard, employing stories, quotes, and interviews in describing Holiday's technique. Holiday and William Dufty's Lady Sings the Blues ( LJ 8/56) is a serious and inspirational account; O'Meally's treatment is also serious, but he offers psychological analysis as well. Referring to the subtitle, O'Meally writes, "Through her music . . . she faced down a world full of trouble . . . her songs were confrontations." No index or footnotes are provided, but there is a large selected bibliography. For large public libraries and academic music collections. (Photos not seen).
- Ina M. Wise, Chicago
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Arcade Pub
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 1559702001
• ISBN 13: 9781559702003
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 207